


135 Hours

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Friendship, Holidays, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-26
Updated: 2011-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-26 13:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If I wanted discomfort, I could be with my mother for a few hours.  At least I’d know there’d be plenty of liquor flowing.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	135 Hours

“135 hours.” Morgan grinned as he threw his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

“What are you talking about?” Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s how long I'm gonna be free, Prentiss. A beautiful 135 hours. There won't be any Unsubs, no victims, no crime scenes, and no profiling. Its gonna be all about football, _Law and Order_ reruns, sweet potato pie, the comfiest couch on the planet, nieces, nephews, the Windy City…its all about family. I'm going home, I'm getting my grub on, and I get to pretend to be normal for a whopping 135 hours.”

“You’ve timed it?”

“In our jobs we have to. We always make plans and have to break them. I'm not breaking a damn thing this year…unless you count consecutive pieces of Mama’s pie eaten in a single sitting. She's making three this year; one is just for her baby boy.”

“That sounds really nice, Derek.” She smiled.

“It's gonna be. It's gonna be the nicest thing that’s happened all year and I'm looking forward to it. What are your plans?”

Emily looked around as if someone might be eavesdropping. As usual on a Tuesday, the BAU bullpen was filled with agents. This was still a regular workday but the place would probably be at quarter staff tomorrow and deserted for the four day weekend. Thanksgiving was a huge federal holiday. They didn’t have to work on Christmas but so many were there on Christmas Eve and even more the day after.

The unlucky ones might even get stuck on the road for the holidays. Sometimes not even having your own jet was enough to get home in time for presents. Emily wasn’t going to worry about that right now; Christmas was a month away. Almost anything could happen in that time.

“All three of my parents are in Connecticut with my sister and brother-in-law.” She replied. “We’re doing the blended family thing here with Sam, Jessie, Haley, and Steve. I may be going heavy on the wine. Then Friday is an inside day…I have nothing planned but time with my daughter. Saturday we’re driving to Richmond for an afternoon with the in-laws. And on the seventh day, she rested. Are you bringing back any of that pie?”

“It wouldn’t make it.” Derek shook his head. “I’d have the best of intentions, you know I love you, but it simply would not make it.”

“Greedy.” She laughed as they both looked at Reid. “Spencer, what are your holiday plans?”

“Hmm?” he looked up from the computer screen. He’d been staring at it for a long while. Emily hadn't counted the time like Reid did with Rossi but it had been a long time.

“What are your holiday plans, kid?” Derek repeated.

“I'm getting on a plane in a few hours to visit my mother in Vegas. She told me my father was going to be there so I guess that means I'm seeing him too.” Reid could hardly hide the disdain in his voice. “I'm coming back on Friday afternoon for R & R and as much Rod Serling as can possibly be squeezed into that time.”

“ _Twilight Zone_ or _Night Gallery_?” Emily asked.

“Both. There will probably be a good amount of chocolate pudding and Cool Whip too…it’s a weakness.”

“Reid, you're making a nerd fest sound a little dirty.” Rossi said, joining the conversation. He sat on the side of Emily’s desk.

“You call it a nerd fest; I call it a relaxing weekend.”

“Alone?” Rossi asked.

“That’s for me to know and you to convene a powwow to contemplate.” Reid replied. He went back to his computer.

“Whoa kid,” Morgan sat up from his relaxed position. “Spill it.”

“I might, if you told us about your friend making a trip up from a tropical locale to Chicago for the holiday.”

“How did you know…?”

“You think you’re speaking in code.” Reid replied. “I'm an expert decoder.”

“What about you, Rossi?” Emily said. She didn’t need to pressure Spencer or Morgan, they all found out each other’s business eventually. “Do you have holiday plans?”

They all knew Dave had been going through a tough time recently. He needed this time off to reenergize and prioritize. The BAU wasn’t the whole world but many times it was treated as such. It took over your life even when you were determined that it wouldn’t.

Nothing short of life-threatening injuries, and a long weekend of turkey and dressing, usually got them away from the stranglehold. They all thought Dave needed some real time away, and not just grieving time. He’d surely thought the same about any or all of them over the past four years. Yet they all remained, together, fighting the good fight and trying to keep own heads above water. Deaths, real and concocted, didn’t keep them away for long.

“I’ll be in New York City. The Big Apple, the town so nice they named it twice, Manhattan…well actually Brooklyn. It’s Nora’s first Thanksgiving dinner; I'm sure she’ll do it her way. We’ll be staying in an overpriced hotel suite after driving down this evening.”

“You'll be there the whole four day weekend?” Morgan asked.

“We’ll drive back on Sunday morning but I'm off on Monday. It'll be nice to spend a relaxing time with family. Nora tells me there's a La-Z-Boy with my name on it. I really find no room to argue with that.”

“A man with a plan.” Morgan grinned. He held out his fist and Rossi hit it. “I like your thinking, Rossi.”

“I wish I was going to be spending the day in a La-Z-Boy with my kids watching Christmas movies or something. No such luck.”

“What are you and Hotch doing?” Dave asked.

“A very blended family holiday.” Morgan replied.

“Oh.” The senior profiler sympathized. Dave knew Hotch probably was just as uncomfortable with the idea as his wife was.

He was doing it for Jack. When you had kids, divorced or not, it was about them and not you. But it had to be difficult for Emily to feel like anything more than the second wife at those shindigs. Dave was lucky; Erin’s ex was rarely around for the holidays.

Eli Strauss’ new wife and family took up his time. That probably wasn’t a good thing for his kids, older or not, but it suited Dave just fine. He’d worry later about burning in hell for those feelings. Eli made the decision after all, not him.

“Don’t get me wrong, I've really come to care for Sam and Jessie. I honestly don’t mind spending a holiday with them. I probably don’t even mind spending it with Haley. She seems to have the problem with me, not the other way around. If I wanted discomfort though, I could be with my mother for a few hours. At least I’d know there’d be plenty of liquor flowing.”

“They make a flask now that you can slip into your front pocket.” Reid replied, not looking up from his computer screen.

“How do you know that?” Rossi asked.

“I'm seriously thinking I couldn’t put enough liquor in it to get me through this. I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way.”

“Tolerance?” Morgan asked.

“Faking it.” Emily said.

“Women are so much better at that then men.” Rossi said.

“And Prentiss women have turned it into an Academy Award-winning art form. I'm 40 now…I'm the Katharine Hepburn of faking it.”

“Don’t tell Hotch that.” Morgan smirked. Then he looked at his watch. “Two and a half more hours until I'm heading for Dulles, which means six hours until I'm sitting on Mama’s couch with my first slice of sweet potato pie.”

“Do any of you plan on doing work in that time?” Hotch asked. He was coming out of his office and down the steps.

“Aww c'mon Hotch, it’s a short week.” Morgan replied. “I don’t find anything wrong with getting into vacation mode a little early.”

“Tell that to those papers stacking up on your desk. You have two and a half hours left Morgan…let at least one of them be devoted to getting something done.”

“I admit I'm not fond of the idea of this pile waiting for me on Monday.” Emily looked at hers with disdain.

“I have 12 files on my desk.” Reid said. He still hadn't looked away from his computer screen. “I counted.”

“Damn.” Rossi muttered. “There went clearing off my desk.”

“Reid, what has got you so enthralled over there?” Emily asked. She grabbed the file from the top, opened it, and inwardly groaned. At least she hoped she inwardly groaned.

“Is the Carl Sagan thingamajig again?” Morgan asked.

“No, um, it’s just some stuff for my trip. I'm shoring up some last minute plans.”

“Reid Does Vegas: The Movie.” Rossi said grinning.

“Something like that.” the young genius looked at him and smiled.

Something about it didn’t seem right to his teammates. Actually Reid had been distracted and weird, weirder than usual, all week. Once Emily heard about plans with his estranged father she chalked it up to that. It had been three years since Spencer’s dad came back into his life.

Spencer still held the man at arm’s length. She couldn’t really blame him. Anyone who walked out on their eight year old son and schizophrenic wife only to spend 20 years less than 10 miles away from them deserved a kick in the nuts. She watched as Reid minimized his screen and went into the kitchen for more coffee.

“Check out the computer, Prentiss.” Morgan said.

“I'm standing right here Morgan.” Hotch replied.

“Right, you're closer…you do it.”

“No one is violating Reid’s trust and looking at his computer.”

“I doubt he's doing anything important anyway.” Rossi said. “He's at work and while we might not be able to spy on him Big Brother surely can. Reid will definitely benefit from this time off; we all will.”

“Amen.” Morgan nodded. “I'm getting time off and sweet potato pie. I win.”

Garcia walked over to where they were all standing. She had pep in her high heeled step but it wasn’t as peppy as usual. The four day weekend was calling to her; it was calling like a 2am weed purchase.

“These need your signature, Boss man.” Garcia started opening folders in front of Hotch at an alarming rate. The crazy part was that the Unit Chief managed to keep up with her. Hotch’s left hand moved over pieces of paper with rapid speed.

“Be careful Hotch, one of those could be guaranteeing Garcia’s semi-annual shoe shopping events go into next year’s BAU budget.”

“Quiet, my love,” Garcia looked back at Morgan. “Don’t ruin the surprise.”

“What are you doing for the holidays, Garcia?” Emily asked smiling.

“Nothing.” She replied. “But don’t let your gusses get all gloomy my profiling pets because that is a very good thing. I've got games for days, fuzzy slipper socks, graphic novels, and the very cuddly Mr. Lynch. Good times. What about you, Peaches?”

“Oh, you know, the family thing.”

Hotch looked at his wife over the barrage of paperwork. He knew all of Emily’s tones and that one definitely conveyed she’d rather be anywhere but with their “family”. Part of him wanted to whisk her away, just the two of them, and some real alone time.

But Emily had been away enough this year to last Hotch a lifetime. Being together right now, as a family, was important to him and important to Jack. He’d made it through plenty of tense “family” gatherings. Adding another notch to his belt wouldn’t be so hard.

“I've got the perfect cure for that.” Garcia said. “Well grab up JJ and Jordan and hit the town on Sunday evening. One last hurrah before we’re back to the grind on Monday. Think about it.”

“I will.” This time Emily managed a real smile.

“Which one are you, Prentiss?” Morgan asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, or Charlotte?”

“I bet I can guess.” Rossi replied.

“Not if you like your life you won't.” she said.

“I think you guys are just whittling away the time until you can get out of here.” Hotch said.

“And here we were hoping you wouldn’t notice.” Rossi replied.

“I want at least two folders from each of you before you walk out of here today. This paperwork won't do itself no matter how much you wish it so.”

Hotch handed all the folders back to Garcia and went into the kitchen to get more tea. Reid was just coming back with coffee as his fellow profilers sighed. Rossi got up from Prentiss’ desk.

“I bet I’ll be done before you.” he said.

“What's the wager?” Morgan asked.

“If I win you bring me some of your mother’s sweet potato pie.”

“What if I win?”

“Don’t worry, you won't.”

“That’s cold, Rossi. That’s really cold.”

“I don’t know if you guys would get any work done if you didn’t bet each other.” Prentiss said. She grabbed a folder from the middle and tried to get to work. She would be there longer than Morgan so that meant she didn’t have to concentrate as hard.

“Is the bet on or not?” Rossi asked.

“It’s on. My winnings to be determined when I take you out.”

Rossi smirked, the two men shook hands. Then he was headed back to his office. Morgan only had about 90 minutes before he had to be to the airport. He didn’t want to spend a moment of it pouring over this paperwork. Yes, it had to be done, and yes they all managed to do it. But he’d gone into vacation mode sometime yesterday.

“Reid…?”

“No.” Spencer shook his head. He’d actually stopped looking at his computer. Instead he was drinking coffee and starting on his own folders.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

“I can venture a guess. I’ll stick with my initial response.”

“Some Thanksgiving spirit you have. Its cool though, its so cool.” Derek looked at Emily wearing his killer grin reserved for the ladies. She wasn’t one of them; Emily was like a sister. She probably wasn’t going to fall for it, just as Sarah or Desi wouldn’t. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t help a brother out.

“I’ll do it…for the sweet potato pie.” She said before he could even ask.

“See, you see that right there is one of the many reasons I love you girl.”

“Whatever Derek.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“I'm serious. You know you and me go all the way. I owe you for this.”

“You better believe you do.” Emily grabbed two folders off his desk at random. “Stick around; you're going to have to sign off on these.”

“No problem.” Derek leaned back in his chair and pulled up Angry Birds on his phone. “I'm here for whatever you need.”

Emily smirked and got to work. It was worth it for some sweet potato pie made by Mrs. Morgan. That would be the perfect ending to what might be a very stressful four day weekend. Here she was facing some much needed time off but nothing about what was coming felt relaxing. Emily might as well stay at Quantico and get this paperwork done.

“Split the pie Em; I’ll do one and you do the other?” Spencer asked.

“Whoa,” that got Morgan’s attention. “So you'll help Emily but not me?”

“I'm helping you by proxy.” Spencer said.

“Mmm hmm.” Derek went back to Angry Birds.

“60-40 on the pie split.” Emily said.

“Deal.” Reid nodded.

She handed him a file and they got to work. Things settled down in the bullpen as everyone clock watched to closing time and going home, wherever that might be this year.

***


End file.
